


funeral blues

by icarusian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Grief/Mourning, Klance Poetry Exchange 2018, Lowercase, M/M, mildly ooc i'm so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-05 11:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16366682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icarusian/pseuds/icarusian
Summary: keith’s father was a hero. shiro was a hero. and look at what happened to them.





	funeral blues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [orphicserenade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphicserenade/gifts).



> SO a few things: 1) this is for orphicwaltz! this piece is based on funeral blues by w.h. auden. thank you for giving me a lot of wiggle room with this poem!!! 2) i am Very Bad at writing angst so this fic was a real challenge for me. it's very stilted and more blunt than i intended, but i still hope it meets your expectations!

keith’s entire narrative has ever only been threaded with loneliness, like someone took the pen right out of his small hands and cruelly wrote out the parts where he had a family; people who loved, undeterred, unconditional.

 _“just me and my pop,”_ he had told shiro, proud to be able to call his father a real hero. where his mother was blank, keith’s father filled in; overcompensation came in the form of head ruffles and as many bedtime stories as he could ask for. his father would answer all the questions keith could think up about his mother, albeit with this displaced look on his face; like he knew something keith didn’t.

he understands now; _“don’t compromise the mission.”_ responsibility clashing with feelings is a trope older than his family tree, and there’s no easy answer. his father’s poorly-shielded pain sticks with him like a brand, ever-present and heavier than the knife at his side.

he gets it; dying in a blaze of glory is just what happens to heroes. they change lives, bring hope to the hopeless, and shoulder the weight of the world with a smile. they die martyrs, an offering of society, and are loved so long as their legacy allows.

but losing his father just wasn't enough, apparently.

takashi shirogane offered him a helping hand when he needed it the most, but wanted it the least. an orphan with no who believed in him and the golden boy of the garrison; a match made in _it's a wonderful life_ heaven. shiro promised to never give up on him in spite of the bloody knuckles, bruised cheeks, and downtrodden gaze—

of course shiro would carry that promise up until the day of his disappearance, leaving keith with the universe on his shoulders and a canyon echoing with the words, _“i want you to lead voltron.”_

keith’s father was a hero. shiro was a hero. and look at what happened to them.

keith is sick of heroes. lance shouldn’t— shouldn’t have to _die_ like them just to be a hero to keith.

and never for the sake of someone like him.

there’s no real way to describe the exact feeling that comes with watching the boy that held you up when the weight of it all threatened to smother you rush to your side and face your demons headlong with no thought in mind but to _protect_. keith’s heart swelled five times bigger when lance dove in and began taking out three sentries at a time, eventually making it to keith in the center of the pit where he thrust up his shield with one arm and made reckless shots with his sniper rifle in the other. keith never considered himself one to wallow in distress, having held his own for long enough, but affection absolutely consumed him knowing that lance cared enough to do whatever it took to protect him.

_“ever heard of fighting your own battles?”_

_“you looked like you needed saving, so shut your quiznak, babe.”_

and to think lance can make him smile in the middle of this heavy artillery fight, where they’re all barely hanging on is—

lance drops his bayard once he takes out the last sentry and falls to his knees next to keith with a breathless laugh— he’s _happy_. lance is beautifully satisfied with the fight, and now all his focus is, blessedly, on keith, smile bright and eyes soft.

“you ready to jack their prisoner logs and hit the road?” he asks, withdrawing his shield and holding out his hand.

“god yeah. i think my ribs are bruised,” keith complains with a little huff of a laugh, grabbing lance’s hand and pulling himself into a more stable sitting position. lance can’t seem to look him in the eyes for some reason, flush high on his face and lips contorting into something more giddy.

“we’ll get you to—” he stops; face falls, mouth twisting downward, and—

before keith knows it, he’s roughly pulled to lance’s chest and spun so they swap spots entirely. it’s hard to gauge anything in its suddenness, but the sounds are all he needs to parse it all.

electric peak of an energy blaster rings true; followed by sparks; shut-down operative—

and a death-rattle scream ripped from above.

and keith can’t—

he can’t look. he can’t look as lance slumps forward and over him, finishing off the cocoon he’s wrapped keith in. he can’t look at the brave boy that made himself a human shield and put keith’s life above his own.

but he can listen. so he lets out a quiet sob and presses his ear to lance’s chest, prayinghopingneeding his heart to tick against the time slowed around them.

_thump-thump. thump-thump._

he can’t help but smile, proud that lance is resilient enough to withstand a direct blast to… vital areas he doesn’t want to think about. keith reaches up, clicks on the comms, and calls for hunk to dispatch an emergency rescue.

 _“please don’t tell me he tried to be a hero,”_ hunk groans.

“he succeeded.”

⁂

 

the normalcy with which everything proceeds is the most daunting, keith thinks. to this day he can still hear that final monitor’s beep before it flat-lined. it rings in his ears, refrained by that single cry lance let out—

“keith, it’s time for the meeting,” shiro quietly announces, warm metal hand a welcome weight on his shoulder.

 _“it’s good to have you back.”_ half is better than whole. best not to get greedy with the love he wants back in his life. limited supplies and all that.

“be there in a minute, shiro. thanks.”

einstein insists that time and space are intimately linked, but what is time to a man with no one left to spend the rest of his with? stars and space aren’t shit without him to stargaze with.

_pack up the moon, dismantle the sun_

they’re taking a vacation— a two-day retreat to gather themselves.

 _“we were supposed to go to the beach together,”_ he cries, sobs, screams into shiro’s secure embrace. _“i’ve never been. he was supposed to bury me in the sand.”_

_“you can bury him instead.”_

but he can’t, not really; he promised lance a varadero scattering, if it ever came to that.

all keith can do now is cling to shiro and wait to give lance the hero’s funeral he deserves.

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't my best work to date im just gonna acknowledge that right here and now. it feels messy and too fast-paced But it was a learning experience for me! i really just,, hope it wasn't total Hot Garbage
> 
> as always please rip me a new asshole on [tumblr](http://icarosian.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](icarosian)!


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